102 Replies - 8308 Views - Last Post: 10 September 2012 - 05:39 PM

Do you think schools should upgrade their computers?

Posted 30 August 2012 - 10:08 AM

Basically that, every school I've been to is still using Windows XP, when they teach computer classes everything they're teaching will only work on Windows XP, I've tried to suggest to them that they should update their computers, the computers are slow and sluggish, freeze a lot and have so many pop ups telling the user to update the system that I don't think the computers have been updated since the day the school got them.

The teacher and administrator always say that they believe "Windows XP will be around for a while" and that is their reason for not upgrading. I can not express to you how stupid and ignorant I think a statement like that is.

Anyway if anyone is still in school are the computers there still Windows XP or have they upgraded? Do you think schools should upgrade or is it fine to stick with Windows XP for a while?

Re: Do you think schools should upgrade their computers?

Posted 30 August 2012 - 11:23 AM

I can also tell you that imaging Windows 7 is very different from Windows XP. When I worked for the CIS department at my school a few years ago, we were in the process of trying to build Windows 7 images, but Altiris has (or had at the time) piss-poor support for a Windows 7 image. Part of the problem was the way it handles profiles. It's not much of an excuse, but at schools that primarily use student workers to handle imaging, it can be enough of a roadblock to keep everything on XP.

Re: Do you think schools should upgrade their computers?

Posted 30 August 2012 - 11:25 AM

If the purpose of the school having computers is for programming precepts then they could do it with anything old. If the purpose is for modern techniques and languages then, yes, they should be fairly up to date. For elementary/high school the former may be adequate but for a college degree the equipment, teacher and software support should be current or else the graduate would be a generation behind and have to gather current language corelation on their own. Computer languages are all evolving so fast it would be nice if the language provider could offer student versions with limited storage or code length functionality so as to not be viable outside academic use.

Re: Do you think schools should upgrade their computers?

Posted 30 August 2012 - 11:50 AM

The school in question is indeed a college and they are trying to teach modern concepts to students that have very little to no experience, they are teaching us students things that can only be done on the older software that they use and won't apply to anything modern.

In two weeks they are lending out to us new Acer netbooks with Windows 7 installed, almost 70 of the stuff they taught us won't even work on a modern OS.

Money wise, they have more then plenty to buy one classroom a max of 10 new computers, the netbooks they got weren't even bought with their money.

Re: Do you think schools should upgrade their computers?

Posted 30 August 2012 - 01:27 PM

My school has actually been doing pretty well money-wise, however we still run XP (our computers even have a "Built for W7" sticker). But why would a school update from XP, op? It works. It's an awesome operating system. And it's been modified to the point where it can work with the whole school's infrastructure flawlessly. Upgrading to Windows 7 would not only mean buying all of those licenses, it also means paying people to patch all security issues, making sure it works with the servers (our documents are synced with some offsite server), and not to mention the learning curve. Teachers aren't going to be very happy when they see this new OS and have no idea how to use it. Could you imagine how little work and how many problems there would be the first year they finally roll out their customized W7? It would be horrible. And all of those higher-ups that decided to finally make the switch will be in hot water once these problems show up.

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

If the lack of updated software really bugs you so much, make a meeting with the board of directors. Express your concerns and convince them that student happiness/output would increase dramatically. But listen to their side as well, maybe you're district does not have much money? Maybe if they were to upgrade all of their computers with Adobe CS6 Masters Suite they'd have to cut art. Would that really be worth it?

Basically, there's a lot more to it than just pushing a button and boom, everyone has the latest system with the latest software.

This post has been edited by creativecoding: 30 August 2012 - 01:28 PM

Re: Do you think schools should upgrade their computers?

Posted 30 August 2012 - 05:20 PM

Get this, we have a COBOL class and our teacher told us to find a computer running on DOS to do our homework since the compiler only runs with DOS. Next meeting, the teacher came in and asked if we did the assignment, because the other section was full of complaints that they couldn't do their homework because they couldn't find a machine with DOS. Then surprise came as we all turned in our assignments. What happened is I recall from my gaming exploits that I tried to run DOS games on XP ( motivators were System Shock 2,I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, and Fallout) and I stumbled upon an application called DOSBox. I tried using it with the compiler and lo and behold! It worked. I quickly distributed the app to my classmates and after that my teacher asked for a copy too. From that day onward, everyone could code with COBOL easily.

I am the reason why many students on my college take COBOL hands - on major exams now. I feel good about what I left behind to my school, and I feel bad for the students who curse those same exams.

tl;dr
If you wan't your school to use other software, just pitch it in, there's no harm in trying.

Re: Do you think schools should upgrade their computers?

Posted 30 August 2012 - 05:57 PM

POPULAR

Honestly schools should slap linux on their computers and tell you to go fucking learn how to use a computer. I pay enough in school fees and taxes for mediocre education system and computer retarded kids who only know two things.
1). How to post stupid bathroom duck faced pics on Twitter and Facebook
2). How to play fucking Minecraft